Two categories of beef production exist; i.e. (i) purebred animals from a beef sire and a beef dam and (ii) crossbred animals from a beef sire and a dairy dam.

For the purebred beef production, there is a growing interest to include behavior and type traits in the breeding goal. Heritabilities for behavior traits, estimated using subjective data scored by farmers, range from 0.02 to 0.19. Heritabilities for type traits range from 0.02 to 0.35. Results show that there are good opportunities to implement selection for behavior traits using a simple on-farm recording system to allow collection of large data set, and for type traits in Charolais. A genome-wide association study detected 16 genomic regions with small effect on behavior and type traits. This suggests that behavior and type traits are influenced by many genes each explaining a small part of the genetic variance.

The two main dairy breeds mated to Charolais sires for crossbred beef production in France are Montbéliard and Holstein. The genetic correlation between the same trait measured on Montbéliard x Charolais and on Holstein x Charolais was 0.99 for muscular development, 0.96 for birth weight; and 0.91 for calving difficulty, 0.80 for height, and 0.70 for bone thinness. Thus, for these last three traits, results show evidence for re-ranking of Charolais sires depending on whether they are mated to Montbéliard or Holstein cows. When using genomic prediction, the Montbéliard x Charolais and Holstein x Charolais populations could be combined into a single reference population to increase size and accuracy of genomic prediction. Results indicate that the higher the genetic correlation is between the two crossbred populations, the higher the gain in accuracy is achieved when combining the two populations into a single reference.

The selection of Charolais sires to produce purebred or crossbred animals is made through distinct breeding programs. An alternative could be to combine selection into one breeding program. Decision for combining or keeping breeding programs separate is determined by the correlation between the breeding objectives, the selection intensity, the difference in level of genetic merit, the accuracy of selection, and the recent implementation of genomic evaluation. Considering all parameters and based on estimations for selection on birth weight, I recommend combining both breeding programs because this will lead to higher genetic gain, and might simplify operating organization and reduce associated costs.

When we were children learning the names of animals, farm utensils and food products from picture books, talking about farming animals and related food products appeared simple. However, the intricate realities of modern-day farming practices differ momentously from this primary reference - the picture books. The topic brings about polarized responses, both rationally and emotionally, reflecting very diverse outlooks on the world. This dissertation reports on a research, set in the Netherlands and Turkey, that was designed to improve our understanding of the everyday-life construction of the acceptability -or non-acceptability- ofkeeping and killing animals for food, or in other words: to disentangle the domestic contract.

In 2014, the non-governmental organisation Wakker Dier in the Netherlands criticised ING for financing animal farms outside the European Union (EU). The NGO expressed its concern that local regulation would not sufficiently guarantee animal welfare standards up to the level guaranteed under EU regulations. Early 2015, LEI Wageningen UR was requested to identify potential detrimental activities in the United States of America (USA) animal husbandry sector due to gaps between EU and USA legislation and local animal welfare standards applied in the USA. Activities covered by ING clients in the USA and thus in scope of this research involve pigs, layers, broilers, veal calves, dairy cows and beef cows. The aim of this report is to provide a qualified comparison of animal welfare standards in the USA and the EU and to identify animal welfare and other potential ethical issues within animal farming in the USA and to identify critical issues on which ING is advised to take a strategic position.

The objective of the research was to explore factors determining cattle farmers' intention to adopt improved natural grassland in Brazil. The research was carried out in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of Brazil.

In this study the sustainability of Dutch specialized beef production is compared qualitatively with two other Dutch animal production systems (porc and broilers), and with beef production in Ireland and Brazil, the most prominent exporters of beef to the Dutch market with which the Dutch sector competes. The comparison is done along twelve of the fifteen long-term ambitions of the Dutch governance network ‘Uitvoeringsagenda Duurzame Veehouderij’.

This study reports the emissions of ammonia, odour, fine dust (PM10 and PM2.5), methane and nitrous oxide from an animal house for fattening pigs provided with V-shaped manure belts for separated removal of faeces and urine (the Kempfarm system).

A literature study was conducted in order to determine the potential influence of feeding liquid diets on the phosphorus retention in growing pigs. The most important factors influencing digestibility of phosphorus and its retention in the body were addressed and related to specific characteristics of liquid feeding.